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jetBlue Airways has drawn attention during the last few weeks as it became the first US airline to operate commercial flights to Cuba in more than half a century, and from its growing consideration towards launching long haul flights to Europe. But behind those headline-grabbing events, jetBlue continues to grow from its points of strength in Fort Lauderdale, Boston and Orlando.

In early 2017 the airline plans to add strategic flights from those three focus cities, entering markets where ample competition already exists. However, as a major force in Fort Lauderdale, Boston and Orlando, jetBlue needs a presence in strategic markets from those airports. Its planned route additions are areas where jetBlue lacks service, and despite the vast competition, the airline needs to offer those route options to its customers.

A recent push by Delta Air Lines into jetBlue’s Boston focus city has not appeared to spook jetBlue. On the contrary – jetBlue’s ambitious growth from Boston continues unabated as it has declared a new daily peak-day departure target of 200.

Niche US ULCC Allegiant Air should be embarking on a period of greater stability after reaching an agreement with its pilots and completing a safety review with the US FAA. The airline also recently placed its first order for new aircraft with Airbus, which will help to accelerate the retirement of its ageing MD-80s that are creating reliability challenges for Allegiant.

Although the pilot agreement and aircraft deal will drive long term benefits for Allegiant, the airline faces some cost pressure going forward from increased labour expense and inefficiencies in operating more than one fleet type. As it braces for some cost inflation, Allegiant is also facing increased competitive overlap with fellow ULCCs Frontier and Spirit, which reflects subtle changing dynamics in the US domestic market.

For the moment, the overlap between Allegiant and other ULCCs remains small. But the likelihood of increasing competition is strong as the opportunities in medium sized markets created by consolidation among the US’ largest airlines continue to grow.